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Your Home Office

A home office is a dedicated environment where you complete defined tasks in an efficient manner.

It could be your kitchen table, but this isn't ideal for several reasons, including:

  • The table might be the wrong height
  • The chair might not be comfortable to sit in all day
  • There might be noise from the dishwasher
  • Other people might come in and out of the room
  • The power socket might in an inconvenient place
  • You have to pack everything away each day

A home office should be a dedicated space where you can be comfortable, focused and efficient.

The scale of the home office (in terms of size, setup and cost) depends on several factors, including how often you need a dedicate workspace and the space available.

Ideals for a home office include:

• Comfort
• Little clutter
• Automated processes
• The ability to focus on tasks

Location, Location, Location

Your home office area can be one of many locations, but it should be a fixed location that you can optimise and be comfortable with. Remember the rule ‘what’s mine is mine’, which means that other people should know that this is your space and they can't alter it without your permission.

The ideal home office space might be one that you haven't considered, here are some examples:

  • Dedicated room
  • Shared room
  • Table
  • Fold-out table
  • Cupboard
  • Space under the stairs
  • Loft conversion
  • Shed
  • Garage
  • Added floor above the garage

Office Environment

Desk

The centrepiece of any office is the desk. Items to consider are:

  • Should it be free-standing or fold-away?
  • Do you want it to be height adjustable (for standing and sitting)?
  • What should the sitting height be?
  • Do you want storage underneath it?
  • How large should it be?
  • Do you want to be able to write on it (i.e. have a whiteboard surface)?
  • Should it have cable management built into it?

Seating - Chair

It is highly advised to invest in a good office chair.

A good chair will help prevent a sore back, provide good airflow (not to sticky on hot days) and will last you a very long time, so is likely to be cost0effective over time.

For short periods, you might want to swap out your chair for a yoga ball. This helps improve your core stability and back muscles.

Seating - Footrest

For some people, a footrest is a good idea. This helps provide correct posture when sitting.

Storage

Storage is essential in home offices - you need to have everything organised, so you don't waste time searching for things.

Suggestions for items of storage are:

  • Bookshelves, with book ends
  • Filing cabinet
  • Files and folders (you might want different colours for different functions e.g. blue = accounting, red = receipts)
  • Inbox/To-Do tray/divider - sort things into high, medium and low priority, keep these in plain sight so you can't ignore them

Stationary Holder

Your stationary should be in a defined place, so you know where everything is and items don't roll about on your desk.

Lighting

Good lighting is very important. It literally makes easier to see what you’re doing and it improves your mood.

Natural Light

Natural light helps regulate your Circadian rhythm. Circadian rhythms are 24-hour cycles that are part of the body’s internal clock, running in the background to carry out essential functions and processes. One of the most important and well-known circadian rhythms is the sleep-wake cycle. Read more about it on the Sleep Foundation website.

LED Lighting

Good lighting is essential in a home office, so it's essential to consider:

  • Brightness of the bulbs
  • Larger rooms will require multiple lights or fewer lights with brighter bulbs
    Colour of the bulbs
  • Manual or automated operation

In my home office I like automated bulbs which have these features:

  • Change the warmth of the white, to find your perfect colour
  • Dimmable, to find the perfect light output for your room
  • Automated, so works with assistants such as Alexa and Google, so they turn on and off when I say 'Turn on/off the office', along with all of my other office devices (wall plugs, heater, desk light, etc.)

LED lights are expensive compared to convention lights, but their energy usage is much less and they pay for themselves quite quickly.

Lampshades

Part of optimising your lighting is to consider the style of lampshades you have.

Items to consider:

  • Ensure they provide enough coverage, so you can't see the reflection
  • Ensure they don't block too much light

Desk Lamp

The lighting in your room might not be adequate for reading or writing at your desk, if so, you a desk lamp might be a good solution.

Items to consider:

  • Adjustable position
  • Change the warmth of the white, to find your perfect colour
  • Dimmable, to find the perfect light output for your room

Avoid Glare and Direct Sunlight

You don't want to spend time squinting as this can be a big distraction. If you can't avoid direct sunlight on your monitors, you can use monitor screens to counter the effect.

Blinds and Curtains

Blinds and curtains server 2 purposes - controlling how much light and heat enters the room.

Items to consider:

  • Blinds or curtains
  • How much light will they block
  • Manual or automated operation

Power sockets

It is recommended to have all computer equipment connected to power sockets with surge protection.

Remember not to overload sockets.

Smart Plugs

Smart plugs provide these features:

  • Save you money when you attach them to heaters
  • Monitor power usage, to determine running costs and ensure that sockets are not overloaded
  • Enable you to turn devices on or off without having to crawl on the floor or reach behind objects

Examples of how I use smart plugs:

  • Automatically turn off an oil heater at 5.15pm (I finish working at 5.30pm). This saves me 15 minutes electricity each day (the room doesn't get cold within 15 minutes) and it ensures that I can't forget to turn it off
  • To turn on or off all office devices with a single voice command
  • The devices include plugs (connected to computer equipment and monitors), ceiling light, desk light and oil heater

Charging

You will want easy methods of charging your personal devices. This means wireless charging, no cables that are untidy or take time to plug in - just 'drop and charge'!

  • Mobile charger
  • Watch charger

Mouse Mat

Mouse mats ensure a good surface for your mouse to operate on.

Items to consider:

  • Should stick or grip well to the desk
  • Easy to clean
  • Correct size for the desk

Heating

A standard thermometer allows you to set defined times for heating your whole house (or multi-zones if available, e.g. upstairs and downstairs). A smart thermostat (such as Nest) allows you to be more comfortable whilst saving money at the same time.

If it's just you in a single room for most of the day, you might want to heat just the room and not the whole house (or a zone). This will save you money and give you more control over a local heat source for the single room. An electric oil heater is cheap to run and radiates a lot of heat. I use one paired with a smart plug which is set to turn it off every day at 5.15pm, so I can't forget to turn it off.

Additional methods of thermal control can also include a jumper, warm socks and slippers.

  • Oil heater
  • Nest
  • Jumper
  • Warm socks
  • Slippers

Cooling

Cable Management

Home office setups look much better when the cables are properly managed, it also helps ensure that cables don't get snagged or damaged.

Bin

You will need a bin and bin bags.

Clock

Some people like to have a large clock that they can glance at, rather than squint at the small clocks in the corner of their monitors.

Doorbell

If you can't easily hear your current doorbell from your home office, you might want to look at getting a wireless doorbell.

If your home office is not near your front door, you have mobility issues or you don't want to answer the door every time it rings, you could consider a doorbell with a built-in video camera. These also act as a security device.

Plants

It's nice to have some greenery in your office. If you're not very good at looking after plants, go for ones that need little maintenance - or cheat and get fake ones.

Posters/Pictures/Wall Vinyl

A home office doesn't have to be boring. Add a personal touch, even some humour, motivational messages, poetry or geekery